johnny gilmorehttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/1452/all
enTragic end: Investigation complete in drummer Gilmore's deathhttp://www.readthehook.com/66976/tragic-end-investigation-complete-drummer-gilmores-death
<!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><div class="captionLeftLandscape"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-21939" title="news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med-325x216.jpg" alt="news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med" width="325" height="216" /></a><strong>'Everybody who's anybody musically in this town played with Johnny Gilmore,' said singer-songwriter William Walter</strong><strong>.</strong><br />
<small>PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM WALTER<br />
</small></div>
<p>Eight months after beloved musician Johnny Gilmore <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/23/drummer-lost-fire-victim-was-johnny-gilmore/">perished in a house fire</a>, the official investigation is complete: the blaze was accidental and likely ignited by a dropped or improperly discarded cigarette. Gilmore died of smoke inhalation, and authorities now cite a high blood alcohol content as a contributing factor in his death. But the answer to one question remains elusive: Could a different type of smoke detector have saved him?<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">The 45-year-old drummer was home alone in the Green Leaf Townhouses in midtown on Fifth Street, SW on Thursday, October 22, when a smoldering fire ignited in his bedroom. His then 75-year-old father, Curtis Gilmore, with whom the musician lived, arrived home right after 9pm to find smoke emerging from his son's locked bedroom and called 911. By the time firefighters arrived five minutes later, however, the room had "flashed over"&#8211;- as the temperature reached 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit and materials spontaneously combusted&#8211;- and the elder Gilmore, whom the <em>Hook</em> was unable to interview, was injured attempting to break down the door to reach his son. He was treated for smoke inhalation and burns and released from the hospital that night.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">In the days following the fire, as <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2009/11/09/johnny-gilmore-gets-musical-farewell/">musicians and friends mourned Gilmore</a>, whom music critic and musician Stephen Barling called "the best musician I've ever met in my life," Charlottesville Fire investigators revealed that every one of the ionization smoke detectors in the nine-unit townhouse development where Gilmore lived had been disabled.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">The landlord, Ampy Smith, initially talked of his frustration that tenants allegedly disabled the ionization units due to false alarms originating with kitchen smoke. Smith did not return the <em>Hook</em>'s call for this article, but as the <em>Hook</em> has <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/07/10/COVER-SMOKEDETECTOR-MAIN-H.aspx">previously reported</a>, ionization detectors are more prone to false alarms than photoelectric detectors. In one Alaskan study, ionization detectors were eight times more likely to be disabled than photoelectrics due to false alarms.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">In addition, ionization detectors&#8211;- the type found in more than 90 percent of American homes&#8211;- typically fail to detect smoke from smoldering fires and will sound only when the first actual flames appear, potentially leaving victims exposed for hours to toxic gases including carbon monoxide and cyanide prior to the flaming fire.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">That appears to have been the case with Gilmore, who, according to Charlottesville Police Detective Sergeant Steve Dillon, had a "large amount" of carbon monoxide in his blood&#8211;- 45 percent&#8211;- coupled with a .38 BAC, or blood alcohol content, nearly five times the legal driving limit.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">But while such a significant alcohol level would render most people unconscious, and might even be life threatening, it's not always the case, says toxicologist Chris Holstege, director of the Blue Ridge Poison Control Center, who says he's seen individuals still conscious and ambulatory at levels as high as .5.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"It depends on their tolerance," says Holstege, who notes that the coupling of a high BAC and a high level of carbon monoxide most likely means Gilmore was fully unconscious at the time of his death.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Charlottesville Fire Marshal W.A. Hogsten agrees, and says Gilmore most likely died well before the room flashed over because of the carbon monoxide, which, when concentrated enough, causes death within a minute as the body is deprived of oxygen. "He might not have ever known," says Hogsten.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">At a press conference following Gilmore's death, Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner publicly acknowledged for the first time the flaws in ionization-only detectors&#8211;- which rely on radioactive material&#8211;- and urged the public to invest in combination smoke detectors, which employ both photoelectric and ionization technology.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">While Werner and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Fire_Chiefs">International Association of Fire Chiefs</a> endorse combination detectors&#8211;- the type distributed through the City's <a href="http://www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=1486">free detector program</a>&#8211;- as the best protection against both types of fire, critics and other fire organizations, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Fire_Fighters">International Association of Fire Fighters</a>, cite combination detectors' susceptibility to false alarms as a potentially lethal inducement for a homeowner, renter, or guest to disable what could have been a life-saving device.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">While there is no way to know if Gilmore could have responded to an earlier alert&#8211;- or if a neighbor might have heard it and called 911 before he perished&#8211;- Hogsten says he hopes tragedies like Gilmore's death will remind everyone of the importance of smoke detectors. And he praises his department's response times and ability to suppress a blaze.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"The one thing we can't control," says Hogsten, "is the time from when the fire starts until someone notifies us. The only intermediary is smoke detectors."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">That may not be enough, according to the International Association of Firefighters which urges everyone, "<a href="http://www.iaff.org/comm/press/102908Smoke.htm">Don’t just change your batteries&#8211; change your smoke detector, too</a>," a campaign to move away from ionization detectors. Several Charlottesville retailers including <a href="http://www.martinhardwareinc.com/">Martin Hardware</a> on Preston Avenue now stock photoelectric-only detectors.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/66976/tragic-end-investigation-complete-drummer-gilmores-death#comments_BreakingNews_MusicFeaturedHealthTechnology_Firejohnny gilmoresmoke detectorsFri, 06 Aug 2010 14:54:13 +0000courteney66976 at http://www.readthehook.comJohnny Gilmore gets musical farewellhttp://www.readthehook.com/69565/johnny-gilmore-gets-musical-farewell
<p><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/news-johnnygilmore-tribute.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-22894 alignleft" title="news-johnnygilmore-tribute" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/news-johnnygilmore-tribute-140x92.jpg" alt="news-johnnygilmore-tribute" width="140" height="92" /></a>Amid the distinctive sound of John D'earth's trumpet, scores of fellow musicians and friends paid tribute last Friday to the life of the late <a href="http://www.johnnygilmore.com/Home.html">Johnny Gilmore</a>, who died in an <a href="http://">October 22 fire</a>, with a musical procession along Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. In the <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/johnnygilmore-procession2.mp3">audio</a> captured at the November 6 event, Todd Ely explains a little of why Gilmore was so popular.</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/69565/johnny-gilmore-gets-musical-farewell#comments_BreakingNews_MusicEntertainment_Firejohnny gilmoreMon, 09 Nov 2009 12:13:05 +0000hawes69565 at http://www.readthehook.comDrummer lost: Fire victim was Johnny Gilmorehttp://www.readthehook.com/69752/drummer-lost-fire-victim-was-johnny-gilmore
<!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><div class="captionLeftLandscape"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-21939" title="news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med-325x216.jpg" alt="news-johnnygilmore-drumming-med" width="325" height="216" /></a><strong>'Everybody who's anybody musically in this town played with Johnny Gilmore,' says singer-songwriter William Walter</strong><strong>.</strong><br />
<small>PHOTO COURTESY WILLIAM WALTER<br />
</small></div>
<p>Acclaimed local drummer Johnny Gilmore has died in a fire, and his father was hospitalized after the blaze erupted Thursday night in the musician's room at the Green Leaf Townhouses in midtown on Fifth Street, SW.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"I was talking to him an hour or an hour and a half before it happened," says Rougemont Avenue resident Kenneth Jackson, who was visiting his sister in the unit adjacent to Gilmore's in the nine-unit apartment complex. "He was sitting on the wall, and we were talking about music."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Music was the 45-year-old's life, say those who heard the Johnny Gilmore Trio, Soko, and other artists, such as Corey Harris, with whom he drummed.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"Everybody who's anybody musically in this town played with Johnny Gilmore," says singer-songwriter William Walter, who recently collaborated with him and Tucker Rogers on a live album called <em>Rough Around the Edges</em>.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"Johnny Gilmore's the best musician I've ever met in my life," enthused Charlottesville music critic Stephen Barling in a <a href="http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/04/20/covertuneville.aspx">2006 round-table</a>. "And that's the truth."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"I went down to Miller's last night, and everyone was just staggering around," Barling says Friday morning. "I'm listening to Soko right now, where Johnny's playing with LeRoi,"&#8211; that's LeRoi Moore, the late saxophonist for Dave Matthews Band.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">With musical talent, however, came a sort of semi-seclusion that made it hard for musicians and others to reach Gilmore at times.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">
<!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><div class="captionRightLandscape"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-firesite-med.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-21938" title="news-johnnygilmore-firesite" src="http://www.readthehook.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/news-johnnygilmore-firesite-med-325x243.jpg" alt="news-johnnygilmore-firesite" width="325" height="243" /></a><strong>Students at a state Fire Marshal's class examined a charred futon and other debris the morning after.</strong><br />
<small>PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER<br />
</small></div>
</p><p>The landlord at the complex where Gilmore lived with his father, Curtis, says that the younger Gilmore's bedroom door was often locked.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"We never could get in his room," says landlord Ampy Smith, mentioning an effort just a day earlier to gain access to measure for window blinds.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">And indeed, when the elder Gilmore arrived home the night of the fire, according to Charlottesville fire officials, he smelled smoke and rushed upstairs only to find his son's room locked.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">His efforts to break down the door failed, explained Charlottesville Fire Marshal W.A. Hogsten at an October 23 press conference, and by the time firefighters arrived on the scene about five minutes after the 9:25pm 911 call came in, the room had already "flashed over," a condition in which the temperature has risen so high (typically 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit) that material suddenly combusts.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Three early-arriving police officers attempted to reach the room to rescue Gilmore but were turned back by smoke and heat. One was treated and released for smoke inhalation at UVA hospital. Curtis Gilmore, 73, was also treated for smoke inhalation and released the same night.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"This is a tragedy," says landlord Smith. "Both of them are really nice people."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Hogsten says the smoke detector in Gilmore's unit was in an upstairs hallway and appeared to be without a battery. Smith says he's gotten frustrated that tenants sometimes disable the units due to false alarms originating with kitchen smoke&#8211; and in fact, firefighters discovered that every single smoke detector present in the 9-unit apartment complex had been disabled or removed.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">According to a pair of summer 2008 tests conducted by local fire departments and this newspaper, the most common type of detector, ionization, tends to false alarm eight times more frequently than the competing technology, but fails to promptly detect smoldering fires, the kind most likely to kill people while they sleep.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">While Hogsten says it's too soon to be certain what killed Gilmore, the initial investigation suggests it was an accidental fire, and cigarettes&#8211; a common cause of smoldering fires&#8211; were present in the room.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"This did not need to happen," said Fire Chief Werner, who at today's press conference announced a "call to action" for landlords, homeowners, neighborhood associations, and service organizations to help ensure that every residence in the city is equipped with a smoke detector. And for the first time, Werner made clear that ionization-only detectors&#8211; the kind in most homes&#8211; are simply not sufficient.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"We think you need to go to the next step and add a dual detector," said Werner, who has maintained his support for the combination technology even as several states have changed their laws in favor of photoelectric-only detectors, and various fire safety organizations have also embraced the technology for its avoidance of false alarms.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Werner says Gilmore's death is a reminder to the fire department that even with a free smoke detector program, "We have more to do."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">And, perhaps, that will be one more piece of Gilmore's legacy&#8211; one those who knew him say will be large.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">"His God-given talent and his passion shouldn't pass Charlottesville by quietly," says Charlottesville musician William Walter. "There will never be another Johnny Gilmore."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">&#8211;<em>last updated 4:33pm (with info from press conference, details on discovery of the fire)</em><br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><em>&#8211;updated 2:07pm (with Gilmore's age)</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/69752/drummer-lost-fire-victim-was-johnny-gilmore#comments_BreakingNews_MusicFeaturedAccidents_Firefatalityfirejohnny gilmoreFri, 23 Oct 2009 16:33:04 +0000hawes69752 at http://www.readthehook.com